The Bluebird is Flying High – How About Your Twitter Lead Gen?

By Heidi Bullock | Small Business

The Bluebird is Flying High – How About Your Twitter Lead Gen?

It’s official – the bird is the word! #itsgoodtobeJackDorsey. Twitter had its IPO last week, so it’s safe to say the social media giant is here to stay. Did you know there are 500 million tweets sent every day?!

As a marketer, are you taking advantage of all Twitter has to offer? While you’re probably already actively using Twitter for your company – and leveraging it as a thought leadership platform – it is also a proven channel for demand gen. If you’re in the middle of 2014 planning, you may be re-thinking your social programs. Here are some ways to take your use of Twitter, and demand gen results, to the next level:

1. Follow the Golden Rules

Does your company’s Twitter following need some sprucing up? Keep these Golden Rules in mind.

Don’t take yourself too seriously! It is OK to be playful and have a sense of humor.

Inbound is not enough. See below for some great paid strategies.

You must have good content and solid offers.

You will need a strong call to action. Make sure it’s CLEAR what you want your audience to do.

Always add value. Would your audience thank you for the content asset, tip, or comment?

Never forget that social is a two-way street – you can’t always be promotional.

2. 4-1-1 Cadence

On our Twitter account, we always keep the 4-1-1 rule in mind. The 4-1-1 rule works like this: For every self-serving tweet you make (like a product announcement, or a harder offer), retweet one relevant tweet and then share four pieces of content from others (or have four fun or lighter tweets). This keeps your Twitter feed interesting and engaging – and will hopefully help you acquire more followers!

3. Promoted Posts

As a strategy on Twitter, we’ve had great success with Promoted Tweets in timelines. Promoted Tweets are regular Tweets that can reach both current and potential followers, appearing in both user timelines and search results. Our Promoted Tweets contain timely and engaging content, and each one links to a gated resource page — to download the resource, users must fill out a form.

The Bluebird is Flying High – How About Your Twitter Lead Gen?

It’s important to do some testing with these techniques, to see what works best for your brand. If you are just starting out, try using Promoted Posts during big industry events.

4. Lead Generation Cards

Lead Generation Cards are a visual and compelling way to engage users on Twitter. I like thinking of them as tiny, bite sized landing pages within your tweets. With the right content/offer, Lead Gen Cards can increase conversion rates by capturing in-app form-fills from your followers.

To create a card, sign up for Twitter ads. You’ll see a drop down menu, where you can simply add your copy and image.

The Bluebird is Flying High – How About Your Twitter Lead Gen?

I recommend starting small. Work with an offer you have already tested and know does well. The top considerations for Lead Gen Cards are:

Keep your copy concise and exciting. These are like mini landing pages with much less space!

Make sure your imagery is visually appealing.

Have a clear call to action .

I also strongly recommend syncing leads to your marketing automation platform. That way you can measure the full impact of all your social marketing efforts.

5. TEST

Test to see what works for your business! This is true for everything, but especially channels that may be new for your company. For example, images or offers that work well for a Marketo audience may not work for your audience. I often speak with marketers who think ‘social’ in general won’t work for their business, but in most cases, it’s a matter of optimizing the content, offer, and visual elements. The key is that not everyone learns in the same way or communicates in the same manner – Twitter can help you cover all of your bases.

After their successful IPO, will you be taking Twitter more seriously? What are some cool ways your company is using Twitter for lead generation?